We have been making the cutest ornaments for our Christmas tree :: glittery acorns! What could be cuter than adding a touch of woodland whimsy to make your tree sparkle and shine.
This is what we used to make our cute acorn ornaments…
Materials :
- glitter – in lots of cute colors
- acorns – picked up from the neighborhood trees
- glue – school glue is the easiest to work with but if you are impatient to wait for glue to dry, super glue might be your best bet
- string – any string will do but we love the natural appeal of hemp string
- scissors
- hot glue gun
- black marker – to make things easier
- drill – you’ll need a super small drill bit
- paint pallet or an old muffin tin
Can’t find acorns in your neighborhood, you can buy them on Etsy. The largest acorns are the best and ones with little woody stems are magical.
Tutorial :
Separate the acorns from the caps by pressing on acorns while holding the caps firmly in your fingers. If your acorns are green, they won’t come apart easily and you will need to leave them in a cool dry place for a few days to dry out.
With the acorns separated, use the black marker to number the acorns with their corresponding acorn caps so that you will know exactly which acorn fits perfectly in which cap. The numbers will help you match up the pairs. Ensure that the markings are at the top of the acorn and on the inside of the acorn cap … we don’t want to be able to see them once we have glued them back together again.
Cut the string into 6-inch lengths. We’ll make loops with this hemp string for our acorns to hang from.
Drill holes in the top of each acorn cap. Your drill bit should be double the diameter of the hemp string.
Thread the hemp string through the inside of an acorn cap and back down through the hole again, making a hanging loop. Make sure that the two ends of the hemp string on the inside of the acorn cap are not long enough to protrude past the lip of the cap.
With the hot glue gun, put a bit of glue onto the hemp string inside the acorn cap.
And stick the acorn back into its cap.
You now have a perfect little acorn ornament.
We were tempted to leave our acorn ornaments natural as we thought they looks soooooo cute and could imagine how sweet our tree would look with natural acorns dotted all around it. But, the consensus, when including the children’s vote of course (damn!), was to continue with our original plans of making them spectacularly glittery. Who can pass up a chance for some sparkle and shine?
To keep the glitter under control, we used a recycled mini muffin tin, filling it up with many colors of wonderful glitter. I have also used a little plastic paint pallet but the dishes are a little shallow and if your kids are young, there is more potential to make a bit of a glittery mess with them. I also filled one of the cups with glue.
Paint an acorn with school glue, making sure not to get glue on the acorn cap!
Now, dip the acorn in the glitter, spreading color evenly all around the acorn.
Set your amazingly gorgeous acorn ornaments aside to dry completely. A nice sunny spot on a window sill will work perfectly.
If you are nervous of the glitter coming off your ornaments and showering your house with fairy dust, spray them with a coat of Polyurethane spray. This forms a protective coating over the glitter and it will not sprinkle around. We, of course, like fairy dust, so decided not to follow this step.
Hang them on your Christmas tree for some magical sparkle and shine! And just wait until your Christmas lights make them shimmer. There will be a gasp from the crowd!
In years gone bye, I’ve made these sweet acorn ornaments for gifts for family and friends. They hare consistently been a big hit!
I’ve make a cool graphic for you to share on Pinterest … just in case you need to make some more next year!
Happy Christmas crafting… may the peach of the season fill you and your loved ones with joy.
Blessings and magic,
Donni
One Response
Very cute. I’m going to have to start collecting the acorns that fall off our tree each fall.